Chapter VIII: The Final Battle
It had been two weeks, two weeks of non-stop, solid fighting. Wolf's forces had been fought back to Venom, Area 6, since it had been recently rebuilt, had been thoroughly crushed. The new defense satellite that had been put into orbit around Venom, dubbed by Wolf Boles II, was destroyed. Nearly all his forces, outposts and military installations had been wiped out on all the planets. Most of the armies had retreated back to Venom.
It was like just before, but in a much, much shorter time period. Now, Starfox, an elite group from the Cornerian Navy handpicked by General Pepper himself, and Bill's two Squadrons floated in high orbit around Venom. A mighty battle raged below as a coalition of Katinan, Cornerian, Titania and Fortunan fighter jets fought the various bases and installations around the planet. But the main base, Wolf's base, was left for the best of the best.
James stood in the docking bay, watching Starfox get ready for the upcoming battle. He tugged slightly at the fingerless leather gloves he wore. His lucky gloves that Lara had given him, during the battles he had found his personal effects that had been collected during the war. There he had found his dogtags, some clothes, his personal sidearm and his fingerless leather gloves. They were scarred and burned and scratched from various things.
Not to mention stained with blood and vomit and whatnot. James saw that everyone was climbing into their ships, he turned around and began doing the same. This would prove to be one hell of a battle. It had been estimated that there were over a thousand men stationed at Wolf's main fortress, along with a new mercenary crew he had chosen himself. James powered up all the systems to his ship and followed the group out into space and down to the tainted surface of Venom.
Thirty-seven ships plummeted towards the surface of Venom, as they got there, they pulled up and leveled out. Five from Starfox, twenty from the Bulldog and Husky units, and twelve more from the Navy. They were about five miles from Wolf's base and closing the gap between themselves and their target with great speed. James was in the front right of the group, pumped up and ready for action. He had lightning quick reflexes and excellent skills and he planned to use them all. Within a minute, Wolf's base came into view. A massive chunk of buildings jutting up from the ground, James could already see the ships taking off from two massive hangars.
Like bullets shot out of a gun, sent off on a death mission to protect their ruthless leader at all costs. They didn't know what they were getting into. Or, maybe they did...
James and a few others were the first to go into battle. They all had blood lust, a taste for revenge, to get back at those they had not gotten before. James released his hand from the accelerator and grabbed the controls. He squeezed the laser trigger and watched as a barrage of blue lasers burst forth from the four cannons mounted on his wings. The lasers from his cannons and those around him tore into the ships of the massive, oncoming army. Dozens of ships were sent careening towards the ground in a death spiral, leaving a smoking, flaming trail of derbies behind them. The attacks spread out as the defenders returned fire, two Navy jets were caught in the array of lasers and torn to shreds, killing the two pilots. Their screams filled the comm for just a second, then were cut off. There were a few curses, then another Navy ship exploded. The firefight began, both sides completely opened up. It was a frenzied dogfight of furious pilots, each fighting for a cause, each wanting to win.
The last two Navy jets went down, one exploded in midair, taking out three Venomian Flyers with it. The other crashed straight into the side of the base, causing a massive explosion and taking out a large chunk of one of the hangers. James fired off his second to last Concussion Bomb at a group of at least twenty Venomians clustered together, there was a brilliant flash, an almost invisible shockwave, and all of them were destroyed.
James heard the comm being keyed, "Guys, I've got to get back. My ship's almost gone." Falco said.
There were a few replies, then Falco's Arwing turned away and headed upwards. James focused on the battle before him, nearly half of the army had been demolished. At least two hundred had been taken out when Husky Squadron bombed the hell out of the remaining hangars. The comm filled with another scream as on of Bill's men went down. James targeted another Venomian and fired.
The battle had gone on for another two hours, James watched the skirmish with somewhat of an amazement. It never ceased to amaze him, how these battles looked. All colors of lasers, red, blue, orange, yellow, danced across the sky. Ships exploded and blossomed into huge fireballs. James heard the key being comm, Fox spoke in a tired sounding but excited voice, "Guys! I think I see Wolf's ship. He's fleeing, I'm going after him." He said.
Fara told Fox to be careful, Kat wished him luck, James said nothing and kept on firing. The battle was going their way, nearly seven hundred of the ships were destroyed, and a collective cheer went up as the other survivors turned and fled off into the horizon. The surviving members of the Husky and Bulldog units chased after them. But at that moment, the war was over.
